• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.14-17
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• 2016

Hoarseness is a postoperative complication of thyroidectomy, mostly due to damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN). Hoarseness may also be brought about via vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) due to injury of the vocal cords from manipulations during anesthesia, as well as from psychogenic disorders and respiratory and upper-GI related infections. The clinician or surgeon should 1) document assessment of the patient's voice once a decision has been made to proceed with thyroid surgery ; 2) examine vocal fold mobility, or refer the patient to a clinician who can examine vocal fold mobility 3) examine vocal fold mobility, or refer the patient to a clinician who can examine vocal fold mobility, once a decision has been made to proceed with thyroid surgery 4) educate the patient about the potential impact of thyroid surgery on voice once a decision has been made to proceed with thyroid surgery ; 5) inform the anesthesiologist of the results of abnormal preoperative laryngeal assessment in patients who have had laryngoscopy prior to thyroid surgery ; 6) take steps to preserve the external branch of the surperior laryngeal nerve(s) when performing thyroid surgery ; 7) document whether there has been a change in voice between 2 weeks and 2 months following thyroid surgery ; 8) examine vocal fold mobility or refer the patient for examination of vocal fold mobility in patients with a change in voice following thyroid surgery ; 9) refer a patient to an otolaryngologist when abnormal vocal fold mobility is identified after thyroid surgery ; 10) counsel patients with voice change or abnormal vocal fold mobility after thyroid surgery on options for voice rehabilitation.

• Proceedings of the KOR-BRONCHOESO Conference
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• 1991.06a
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• pp.30-30
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• 1991

성대마비 이비인후과 영역에서는 비교적 빈번하게 관찰되는 질환으로 대부분은 미주신경과 그 분지인 반회신경이 경정맥공에서 후두까지의 주행중에 생긴 질환에 의하여 이차적으로 발생하거나, 드물게는 윤상갑상연골 관절의 고정에 의사여 발생하게 된다. 임상적인 진단은 간접후두경이나 화이버옵틱후두경 검사법에 의하여 간단하게 내려질 수 있으나, 그 발생원인은 다양하며, 임상적인 양상 및 그에 따른 치료 원칙도 다르게 나타난다. 이에 연자들은 1986년 1월 1일부터 1990년 12월 31일까지 5년간 국립의료원 이비인후과에 내원한 환자중 성대마비로 진단된 환자 61례에 대한 후향적 기록 분석에 의해 성별, 원인별, 측별, 성대의 위치, 및 그에 따른 치료방향에 대하여 비교 검토하여 다음과 같은 결과를 보였다. 1)성별은 남녀비가 3:2로 남자가 많았으며, 연령별 분포는 20대에서 70대까지 비교적 균등하였으나 50대(23.0%)에서 가장 많은 분포를 보였다. 2)원인으로는 원인불명이 16례(26.2%), 갑상선수술 8례(13.1%), 폐결핵과 기관내삽관후 각각 6례(9.8%), 폐암 5례(8.2%) 순이었다. 3)마비된 성대의 측별 분포는 편측성이 51례(83.6%), 양측성이 10례(16.4%)이며, 편측성중 좌측이 37례(60.6%)로 가장 많았다. 마비된 성대의 위치는 부정주위가 33례(54%)로 가장 많았다. 4)즉 증상은 단지 애성만 있었던 례가 31례(50.8%), 호흡곤란 혹은 기도흡인등을 동반한 애성이나, 애성을 동반하지 않은 례도 있었다(3례). 증상 발현후 병원 내원까지 기간은 2개월이내가 가장 많았다. 5)16례에서 수술적 처치가 시행되었거나(9례), 혹은 자연치유가 관찰되었는데(7례) 편측성마비때 갑상연골성형술 2례, 양측 마비때 후두외접근법에 의한 피열연골절제술 4례, 레이저를 이용한 피열연골절제술 2례, 승모판 협착증에 의한 편측성 성대마비에서 개심술후 성대마비 회복 1례, 자연 치유는 7례에서 관찰되었으며 6례에서는 증상발현후 6개월이내에 회복되었다.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2020

Visual identification of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) is considered as a gold standard of RLN preservation during thyroid surgery. Intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) is classified into the intermittent type and continuous type and helps surgeons identify the functional integrity of RLN and predict the postoperative vocal cord function. RLN injury during thyroid surgery is associated with tumor factors and surgeon factors. Tumor factors mean such as direct tumor invasion, adhesion of RLN to the tumor, and compression by a large thyroid tumor. Surgeon factors include nerve transection, stretching, thermal injury, and ligation injury. A recent meta-analysis reported that the IONM could reduce the RLN injury. Considering various nerve injury mechanism, we suggest that using both I-ONM and C-IONM together is more effective method in preventing nerve damage than using I-IONM alone.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.111-114
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• 2006

Objective : The anterior approach to the cervical spine now selves as the surgical across of choice for cervical spine disease. Vocal cord paryalysis(VCP) follow the procedure as a complication, and it is most common complication of this procedure. However, the frequency and etiology of this injury are not clearly defined. This study was performed to establish the clinical features of vocal cord paralysis in anterior cervical spine surgery(ACSS). Material and Method : Retrospectively, medical records of patients who underwent ACSS at Hallym university medical center, Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital between January 2000 and March 2006 were reviewed. Further detailed review of the patients with documented VCP after surgery was then performed. Results : 242 ACSSs were performed and 9 patients with VCP were identified (3.71%) In 9 patients with VCP, 8 patients had right-sided approaches (6.01%) and 1 patient had left-sided approach (0.91%). All 9 patients had VCP on ipsilateral side and 8 patients were recovered completely on follow up period. Duration of ACSS, multilevel exposure and low-level (below the C6 level) exposure have been found to be associated with higher risk. Conclusion : For avoiding the recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, surgeon have to understand the clinical features of VCP in ACSS. As right-sided approach has a greater risk of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, we suggest that the left-sided approach be given more consideration.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.35-38
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• 2020

Spasmodic dysphonia is a disease presumed to be a form of focal laryngeal dystonia. The widely used first-line treatment is botulinum toxin injection to the thyroarytenoid muscles. In spite of the effectiveness and safety of this method, it has a temporary effect that lasts only several months, resulting the patients' symptom fluctuating, called 'Botox rollercoaster.' Some surgical techniques had tried, but they had shown several limitations including high rate of recurrence. We tried thyroarytenoid myectomy with selective recurrent laryngeal nerve section in a patient with intractable spasmodic dysphonia. This procedure is an alternative treatment of spasmodic dysphonia to prevent recurrence and improve symptoms. During five years of follow-up, she has shown steady quality voice without any complication. To the best of our knowledgement, this is the longest follow-up case of this operation in South Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.172-178
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• 2022

Background and Objectives Injection laryngoplasty is a common method for treatment of unilateral vocal fold paralysis. Unilateral vocal fold paralysis has various causes, including idiopathic, infection, stroke, neurologic condition, surgery and nerve invasion by cancer. To the knowledge of the authors, there was no study on the relationship between the causes of vocal cord paralysis and the outcome of injection laryngoplasty. Therefore, we tried to investigate the difference in the outcomes of injection laryngoplasty between vocal cord paralysis after surgery group and nerve invasion by cancer group. Materials and Method A retrospective analysis was performed for 24 patients who underwent vocal cord injection due to unilateral vocal cord paralysis caused by surgery or nerve invasion by cancer. The objective quality of the voice was assessed by acoustic voice analysis with the Multi-Dimensional Voice Program. Results Both group showed an improvement of fundamental frequemcy (F0), jitter percent, shimmer (percent), and noise to hearmonic ratio (NHR) after injection laryngoplasty. The vocal cord paralysis due to nerve invasion group showed more improvement in both the mean and median value of F0, shimmer percent and NHR than the vocal cord paralysis due to surgery group, but there was not statistically significant. Conclusion Our study did not show a statistically significant difference in outcome between vocal cord paralysis due to cancer invasion group and surgery group, but statistically tendency was suggested. The vocal cord paralysis due to nerve invasion group showed more improvement in both the mean and median value of acoustic voice analysis than surgery group.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.236-243
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• 1998

Objectives: Local invasion of the thyroid cancer that is invasion of the upper aerodigestive tract, neurovascular structures of the neck and superior mediastinum, is infrequent and comprises of 1-16% of well-differentiated thyroid cancer. However the proximity of the thyroid gland to these structures provides the means for an invasive cancer to gain ready access into theses structures and when invasion occurs, it is the source of significant morbidity and mortality. So locally invasive thyroid cancer should be removed as much as possible, but still much debates have been exist whether the surgical method should be radical or conservative. This study was desinged to evaluate the clinical characteristics and the surgical treatment of the locally invasive thyroid cancer. Material and Methods: At the department of otorhinolaryngology of Hallym university, 10 patients diagnosed as locally invasive thyroid cancer among the 81 patients treated for thyroid cancer between 1991 to 1997 were retrospectively evaluated. Results: Of the 10 patients, 3 patients had histories of previous surgical treatment with or without radiation or radioactive iodine therapy. The site of invasion of thyroid cancer were trachea(7 cases), recurrent laryngeal nerve(5 cases), mediastinal node(5 cases), esophagus(3cases), larynx(3cases), carotid artery(3 cases), pharynx(l case), and other sites(4 cases). The operation techniques included 1 partial laryngectomy and 1 partial cricoid resection, 2 shavings and 3 window resections of the trachea, 1 sleeve resection of the trachea with end-to-end anastomosis and 1 cricotracheoplasty for tracheal invasion, 2 shavings and 1 partial esophagectomies for esophageal invasion, and 1 wall shaving and 2 partial resections with $Gortex^{\circledR}$ tube reconstruction for carotid artery invasion, and so on. Conclusions: These data and review of literature suggest that the surgical method should be perfomed on the basis of individual condition and complete removal of all gross tumor with preservation of vital structures whenever possible will offer a good result.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.183-192
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• 1993

This study reports a prospective analysis of anatomical variations of recurrent laryngeal nerves during 300 thyroidectomies. During thyroidectomies for variable thyroid diseases. the course of recurrent laryngeal nerve was completely isolated from root of neck to the inferior comus of thyroid cartilage. In left side, nerve(53.7%) predominantly ran posterior to the inferior thyroidal artery(p<0.05) but in right side there was no predominant pattern. There were three nonrecurrent laryngeal nerves in the right side. About half of the cases in both sides(51.2% in right, 50.5% in left side) had one or more branches before terminating at cricothyroidal muscles. The average length of branches from inferior comus of thyroid cartilage to the origination of individual branch were l2.0mm in right side and 13.3mm in left side. In right side, majority(50.7%) of nerves ran though paratracheal space but difference did not reach the statistical but in left side, majority(88.3%) ran through tracheoesophageal groove and it was the dominant pattern(p<0.01), the overall status of passages of the nerve were relatively straight in left side(straight 87.8%, oblique 52.1%).

• International journal of thyroidology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.130-136
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• 2018

Background and Objectives: Intraoperative neural monitoring (IONM) of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) in thyroid surgery has been employed worldwide to identify and preserve the nerve as an adjunct to visual identification. The aims of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of IONM and difficulties in the learning curve. Materials and Methods: We studied 63 patients who underwent thyroidectomy with IONM during last 2 years. The standard IONM procedure was performed using NIM 3.0 or C2 Nerve Monitoring System. Patients were divided into two chronological groups based on the success rate of IONM (33 cases in the early period and 30 cases in the late period), and the outcomes were compared between the two groups. Results: Of 63 patients, 32 underwent total thyroidectomy and 31 thyroid lobectomy. Failure of IONM occurred in 9 cases: 8 cases in the early period and 1 case in the late period. Loss of signal occurred in 8 nerves of 82 nerves at risk. The positive predictive value increased from 16.7% in the early period to 50% in the late period. The mean amplitude of the late period was higher than that of the early period (p<0.001). Conclusion: IONM in thyroid surgery is effective to preserve the RLN and to predict postoperative nerve function. However, failure of IONM and high false positive rate can occur in the learning curve, and the learning curve was about 30 cases based on the results of this study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.37-41
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• 2010

Background and Objectives : Transient minor voice changes after thyroidectomy are not infrequent complaints even in cases without any evidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve damage. However, clinical course, diagnosis and management of such voice changes are not fully understood. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics of minor voice changes after thyroidectomy. We also tried to assess the significance and feasibility of superior laryngeal nerve monitoring and to find out the optimal evaluation tools for such voice changes after thyroidectomy. Materials and Method : Nine adult patients who received total thyroidectomy without evidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury were enrolled for this prospective study. Voice evaluations were performed preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively ; acoustic analyses including voice range profile, aerodynamic study, stroboscopic evaluation and subjective voice assessment with questionnaires. The external branch of superior laryngeal nerve was monitored by nerve stimulator after ligation of superior thyroidal vessels. Results: Four of nine patients complained their voice change at 3 months after the surgery. Three of them reported complete recovery of their voice at 6 months after the surgery. Acoustic analysis revealed significant decrease in their phonatory range especially with high tone loss. Questionnaires related to singing was more sensitive than previously well-known "voice handicap index". Stimulation of the superior laryngeal nerve was feasible in most of the cases (94.4%), but it failed to show any correlation with minor voice changes after thyroidectomy. Conclusion : Minor voice changes were not rare events during the first 6 month after thyroidectomy. Decrease in phonatory range with high tone loss and therefore, discomfort in singing was the most common finding. Superior laryngeal monitoring was feasible but it was not a sensitive tool for the prediction of minor voice change after thyroidectomy.